Lecture 16 Outline of Last Lecture I. Who is voting and why?Outline of Current Lecture II. What are political parties?III. Why do we need political parties?IV. Why are there mainly two parties?V. Democrats vs. RepublicansVI. Reasons for joining a partyVII. Statistical FactsVIII.Things Parties doIX. Basic Party History POLS 206 1st EditionX. What about third parties and what is their purpose?Current Lecturel. Political parties are a group of people, not government related, who come together in order to win seats and want to run the government (not interest groups, for they do NOT run candidates)ll. Why do we need political parties?a. Actively support candidatesb. So that each party can run their own primary electionsc. Run political campaigns d. There is a stronger connection between the people and the governmentlll. Why are there mainly two parties? Many reasons...a. from the beginning of America, there has been two major parties summing people’s main opinion and competing against each other for a seatb. in election laws, there requires at least two parties against each otherc. the media mainly supports the two parties, thus people are exposed to the two major partiesd. the electoral college helps keep the two party system going e. citizens have kept this system going as welllV. Democrats vs. Republicansa. Democrats- “Party of the little people”, mostly the working/lower class support, encourage social programs/domestic policy as well as more government spending, and very much support protecting everyone’s rights and libertiesb. Republicans- “Party of the corporation”, mostly the middle/more educated people, encourage family values, pro-life, independence over dependence on the governmentfor programs, therefore want less government spending and taxes, but do want a strong military and foreign policyV. Reasons for joining a party (these are just the broad reasons)a. in order to be considered part of a party, all you do is identify yourself as part of that partyb. people will join because they want acceptance and be around people with similar opinionsc. people want to support a candidate they likeVl. Statistical Facts- In general...a. Democrats are usually people above the age of 65 (more reliance on government programs to care for them), women and ethnic minorities, the average working class, Jewish and Catholicsb. Republicans are usually men, whites, more educated people, upper-middle class, protestant peopleVll. Major things Parties do:a. choose the main candidatesb. tell the general public what is going onc. decide on what policies they will make/supportd. help keep the dominating party in office from getting too domineering e. make a voice for opposing viewsf. manage campaigns for candidatesVlll. Basic Party Historya. The Jacobins (French during the 1790’s) had an influence on forming partiesb. Originally, there were two basic parties: the Federalists and the Anti-Federalistsc. The Federalist party ended and there was a schism from the Democratic Republican Party and the National Republican Party eventually formed, then the Whig Party, thenfinally the Republican Party (or Grand ‘Ole Party (GOP)).d. The Anti-Federalists became the Democratic Republican Party and the schism happened, and then the Democratic Party was formed. There were random third parties in there, some making office.lX. What about third parties and what is their purpose? a. There have been various third parties, particularly supporting or disproving ideasb. Such parties are: Issue-oriented parties (like the Green Party), Ideological Parties (like the Libertarian Party), and Splinter/Personality Parties (like the Bull Moose)c. The main purpose of third parties is they bring issues to the public’s attention and force the two main parties to address those issues as welld. They have an influence on the votee. Also, they make a voice for people who are not satisfied with the two main
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